Take a scull-and-crossbones. It might be taken to mean danger or poison. Or it might be taken to mean pirates or treasure. And if the future explorers did connect it with danger or poison, why wouldn’t they also just think it was maybe a superstition meant to keep outsiders from getting “the good stuff,” like the curses that were sealed into ancient Egyptian tombs?
Take a scull-and-crossbones. It might be taken to mean danger or poison. Or it might be taken to mean pirates or treasure. And if the future explorers did connect it with danger or poison, why wouldn’t they also just think it was maybe a superstition meant to keep outsiders from getting “the good stuff,” like the curses that were sealed into ancient Egyptian tombs?
Why did pirates use it? Because it’s “give us your shit or you die.”
I think your fear is more likely with the current ominous but doesn’t tell you why message (if the language part is lost).
Yeah, a future civilization finds a field covered in spikes. “I wonder what that’s guarding. Must be something good!”